The Aeneid by Virgil; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox

Author:Virgil; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Classical Literature
ISBN: 9780143106296
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 1742-01-01T15:00:00+00:00

So he said, and under his narrow sloped roof

he led the great Aeneas, laid him down on a bed

of fallen leaves and the hide of a Libyan bear.

Night comes rushing down, embracing the earth

in its deep dark wings.

But his mother, Venus,

stirred by fear—no wonder—by all the threats

and the Latins’ violent uproar, goes to Vulcan now

and there in their golden bridal chamber whispers,

breathing immortal love through every word:

“When Greek kings were ravishing Troy in war,

her fated towers, her ramparts doomed to enemy fires,

I asked no help for the victims then, I never begged

for the weapons right within your skill and power.

No, my dearest husband, I’d never put you to work

in a lost cause, much as I owed to Priam’s sons,

however often I wept for Aeneas’ grueling labors.

Now, by Jove’s command he lands on Rutulian soil,

so now I do come, kneeling before the godhead I adore,

begging weapons for my Aeneas, a mother for her son!

Remember Aurora, Tithonus’ wife, and Nereus’ daughter?

Both wept and you gave way. Look at the armies massing,

cities bolting their gates, honing swords against me

to cut my loved ones down.”

No more words.

The goddess threw her snow-white arms around him

as he held back, caressing him here and there,

and suddenly he caught fire—the same old story,

the flame he knew by heart went running through him,

melting him to the marrow of his bones. As thunder

at times will split the sky and a trail of fire goes

rippling through the clouds, flashing, blinding light—

and his wife sensed it all, delighting in her bewitching ways,

she knew her beauty’s power.

And father Vulcan,

enthralled by Venus, his everlasting love, replied:

“Why plumb the past for appeals? Where has it gone,

goddess, the trust you lodged in me? If only

you’d been so passionate for him, then as now,

we would have been in our rights to arm the Trojans,

even then. Neither Father Almighty nor the Fates

were dead against Troy’s standing any longer or

Priam’s living on for ten more years. But now,

if you are gearing up for war, your mind set,

whatever my pains and all my skills can promise,

whatever molten electrum and iron can bring to life,

whatever the bellows’ fiery blasts can do—enough!

Don’t pray to me now. Never doubt your powers.”

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